Method of dispensing soap



April 14, 1942'.

G. D. VOORHlS METHOD OF DISPENSING SOAP Filed-Aug. 20, 1940 INVENTO '3 7 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 14, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Gordon D. Voorhis, Rhinebeck, N. Y., to Voorhis-Tiebout Company, 1110., N. Y., a corporation of New York assignor Rhinebeck,

Application August 20, 1940, Serial No. 353,369

1 Claim.

The invention relates generally to apparatus for dispensing various substances and more particularly to soap dispensers of a type suitable for being mounted in associated relation with a stationary wash bowl and adapted by hand operation, to deliver soap in a finely divided state and in quantities desired for individual use.

In dispensers of this class, as disclosed, for example, in my prior Patents Nos. 2,011,128 and 2,011,129, both granted August 13, 1935, and No. 2,191,003, granted February 20, 1940, soap is employed in the form of a vertically disposed cake or block, fed downward to a cutting or shredding element which acts, when rotated, to remove the surface layer from the lower end of the cake or block in a finely divided state and deliver it into the hand of the user held under the bottom outlet of the dispenser.

When a cake or block of soap is placed in a dispenser of the type above referred to, its upper and lower end surfaces extend in parallel horizontal planes and thus disposed, the lower end is presented in tangential relation to the peripheral surface of the rotatable cutting or shredding element, which first engages the same at the midpoint only and until the rotatable element has cut its way into the cake or block to the full depth of an arc, whose chord equals the width of the cake or block, delivery from the dispenser will be limited and an increased number of turns of the rotating element, usually by a hand crank or button, will be required to obtain the quantity of soap ordinarily used by the average individual.

This is found annoying and objectionable by people using the dispensers and results in many complaints and demands for immediate inspection, repair, etc., of the dispenser, which puts the service company to considerable expense in the loss of time of its employees in making such inspections, only to discover that the defective delivery complained of occurs whenever a new cake of soap is placed the dispenser and continues until the rotatable element reaches the full depth limit of its out into the same, being caused by an inherent defect they are powerless to remedy.

Again, as a cake or block of soap is gradually used up and its upper end is brought into close proximity to the peripheral engaging surface of the cutter, by the feed action of a follower weight or equivalent device, a break will occur in what remains of the cake, at or near the center of the arcuate cut therein, separating this end section into a number of irregularly shaped fragments.

As such fragments are no longer under the control of the follower weight, whose feedaction is checked as the weight comes into contact relation with the cutter, the fragments will remain pocketed in the confined space in which they have lodged, blocking and interfering with the down feed of a new cake of soap until worn down or broken into pieces small enough to pass the cutter and mix with the powdered material delivered through the outlet. In addition to thus preventing the delivery of a proper quantity :of powdered or shredded soap from the new cake, which gives rise to serious objection, as above stated, the lumpy mixture, formed by the escaping fragments, is also objected to by users of dispensers, as the lumps have to be rubbed down in the hands to dissolve them, which is burdensome, annoying and tends to create doubt as to the efiectiveness of dispensers for accomplishing their intended purpose and prejudice people against their use.

Another disadvantage found in present-day soap dispensers is in dimensioning the soap cake to nearly the full capacity of the dispenser, which makes it impossible to enter a new cake until the old one is almost used up or, if that practice is not followed, the only alternative is to throw away the used cake to make room for a new one, which is a loss that adds to the expense of the service.

Having these objections, disadvantages, etc., in mind, thepurpose of the invention isto avoid them and this I find can be accomplished by reshaping the soap cake and giving it smaller dimensions, so that several cakes can be entered in the dispenser and new ones added by the service companys employee on his weekly or semiweekly rounds, thus maintaining a continuous supply in the dispenser and relieving the user of the burden of refillingthe same between calls of the service man, as is often necessary under present practice.

In re-shaping these smaller cakes, provision is made for giving them counterpart end formations,permitting one to fit into another and build up, in effect, a continuous cake, with a division line between adjoining cakes of arcuate form and of the radius of the rotary cutter employed to reducethe cake. In giving the cake ends an arcuate form of the same radius as the cutter, there will becomplete coincidence, as the cutter meets the division line between adjoining cakes and no broken fragments, and in starting on the new cake, the concaved end formation thereof permits the cutter to enter the same at the full depth of its normal cut, thereby avoiding the above described objectionable variation in the delivery of powder and making such deliveries uniform for each revolution of the cutter.

The concaved formation at the end of these smaller cakes, if made deep enough, will serve the purpose of the V-channel in the larger cake, shown in my later issued patents above referred to, to effect quick and uniform drying throughout the body of the cake.

Other features of advantage not specially mentioned above will be apparent from the detail description that follows.

In the accompanying drawing, an embodiment suitable for carrying my invention into effect is shown, but it is to be understood as illustrative only and that no limitation is intended as ,to form or details, other than is imposed scope of the appended claim.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 illustrates diagrammatically an assembly of the essential elements of a present-day soap dispenser.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the contact relation between the cutter and a new cake of soap inserted in the dispenser.

Fig. 3 is a like showing of the cutter and the remains of a cake of soap that is about used up.

Fig. 4 is a view of the assembly shown in Fig. 1, with my improved soap cake substituted for the old form and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the improved soap cake.

Referring now to the drawing, unnecessary details have been omitted and the diagrammatic showing limited to essential elements, somewhat exaggerated from true proportion, for clearness of illustration.

The soap compartment of the dispenser, of the usual vertically disposed form, is indicated at l, with portions of the casing enclosing the same, shown at 2 and the outlet opening for the delivery of soap in powdered or shredded form, is represented at 3. Access to the compartment is provided by a removable front section 4 of the casing, secured by a lock or other suitable fastening, not shown.

The soap in the compartment I, in cake or block form 5, is fed downward by spring action or other means, here illustrated diagrammatically as a follower weight 6 to a rotatable cutting or shredding element I, mounted within the lower end of the casing, just above the outlet 3. The cutting or shredding element 1, here represented diagrammatically by a circle, may be of any well known or suitable form, such, for example, as disclosed in my prior patents above referred to, its detail structure forming no part of the present invention.

In present-day dispensers, a single large cake of soap is used which occupies the greater portion of the space in the soap compartment, as shown in Fig. 1 and until it is reduced to about a quarter of its original size, a new cake cannot be entered therein. This frequently results in the service man finding it impossible to refill the compartment when he calls; and puts the burden on the user, which proves annoying and gives rise to complaints about the service.

To avoid this ground of objection, I divide the soap cake into sections 8, several of which may be entered in the soap compartment at the same time, as shown in Fig. 4. As the consumption of soap between calls of the service man will ordinarily be suflicient to use u at least one of these sections, he will always find space in the soap compartment in which he may enter a new section and thus maintain a continuous supply.

To avoid further objections that arise from the use of the form of soap cake shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, which have been previously referred to, the cake sections are given arcuate counterpart end formations, as indicated at 9 and ID,

by the enabling the sections to fit one into the other, forming, in effect, a continuous body, with the division lines between sections coinciding either exactly or substantially with the peripheral engaging surface of the rotatable cuter.

The counterpart end formations given the sections may be made up of curved or straight lines but are preferably concavo-convex of the radius of the rotatable cutter. Thus formed, the lower concaved end of each section, on reaching the peripheral engaging surface of the cutter, straddles the same and the cutter enters the concavity thereof to the full depth of its maximum cut and is thereby enabled to maintain uniform deliveries of full quantity and avoid objectionable variation, previously referred to, that occurs when the horizontally disposed end surface of the present-day soap cake comes into tangential relation with the peripheral engaging surface of the cutter, as shown in Fig. 2. a

The concavo-convex formation, above described, is efiective in avoiding a lumpy mixture in the delivery from the dispenser, to which reference has been made. As the present-day flat topped cake approaches the cutter, as shown in Fig. 3, it will be cut through or broken into a number of fragments, free of the feed control and such fragments will be eventually delivered with the finely divided material from the new cake, into the hand of the user of the dispenser. In giving the upper end of a cake section convex form and fitting it into the end concavity of an adjoining section, it will be reinforced, there will be no tendency to break and under continuous control of the feed, it will be advanced intact and completely reduced by the cutter.

As aprecautionary measure against fragments being accidentally detached from the cake sections, the edges of all meeting surfaces are rounded.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In dispensing soap and other substances, the method of reducing successive blocks of block assemblies of such substances to particles of uniform size, which consists first, in giving the meeting end surfaces of adjoining blocks of an assembly counterpart formations which correspond substantially to concave-convex surfaces of cylinder segments and conform substantially to the arcuate cut made in the blocks in the reducing operationjsecond, in superimposing the blocks to form, in effect, a continuous block and moving the assembled blocks towards the reducing means; and third, in effecting a cutting action by the reducing means upon the lowermost block of the assembly along a path that substantially follows the curved meeting surfaces of the blocks.

GORDON D. VOORHIS. 

